Wednesday

We spent today in Santa Maria de Jesus, on the side of Volcano Aqua (don't worry, it's not an active volcano :)). The church we worked with is quite unusual. It was started by the Southern Baptist Convention, but the project was abandoned 4 years ago. Because of land use restrictions here, the convention "donated" the building to the existing pastor and small congregation. What is unusual is that the church is 100% Mayan, including the pastor. It is the only known evangelical church in the area where services are in a Mayan dialect rather than Spanish. So four years ago, when they set out on their own, there were about 15 members, all in the same family as the pastor. Today, there are over 75 members.

This morning we provided a program to the women of the church. It is the first event ever held for the women of the church, and was very well received. During the afternoon, we had a kids' program for 60 children. Of the 60, 18 made the decision to accept Jesus as the Lord and Savior.

Both today and on Monday, the children were asked if they wanted to know more about becoming a Christian. They were told that they could meet with Clay, our project leader from the church here in Antigua while the other children received snacks. They would get a snack later, but if this was more important to them, then they were invited to stay and meet with Clay. This is remarkable for any child to willingly wait for snack time, even in the US. But remember, the majority of these children suffer from malnutrition. So to postpone their snack, we know that their decision was sincere.

Tomorrow will be a special day - spending most of our day at the Malnutrition Center. Pictures tomorrow - I promise!!